There’s a squabble brewing in U.S. governmental agencies over the recommendations for fish consumption by children and pregnant women. The Food and Drug Administration wants to reconsider the government recommendation for expecting moms and children to limit their fish intake, due to harmful levels of mercury.

But now there’s a proposal to encourage eating fish for its health benefits, and that has some folks with the Environmental Protection Agency challenging the validity of these new recommendations.

The new recommendations are based on the notion that the benefits outweigh the possible negatives. But the Environmental Protection Agency is challenging the scientific accuracy of the FDA’s 270 page draft of a study that supports their conclusions.

There has been some outrage in the private sector as well. Environmental groups say that the FDA is doing the Devil’s bidding… the Devil being corporations who have, let’s just say, some influence in how our government forms its policy decisions.

Richard Wiles, executive director of the Environmental Working Group, issued this statement: “The FDA was once a fearsome protector of the public health. Now it’s nothing more than a patsy for polluters.”

The food industry is supportive of the FDA’s study. And why wouldn’t they be. One lobbying group, the Center for Consumer Freedom, told the Associated Press that it “just might be the best Christmas present health-conscious Americans could hope for.”

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